Hey everybody! Thank you so much to everybody who contributed to the scholarship fund in July (and to everybody ever over the last few years). Through sales of postcards and notebooks, and auctions of pens, we were able to raise $737, with more coming in as auction winners make payments.

The winner for July is Edward U, #16. Congrats! I’ll be sending you an email soon to talk about your pen.

You can all help support the scholarship fund every month by purchasing notebooks or postcards here, or by bidding on pens that are up for auction. You can also help out by donating your old pens so they can be auctioned off, with every penny going directly into the scholarship fund and endowment. What kind of pens can you donate? ANY. 🙂 We’ve auctioned everything from inexpensive Chinese pens to more high end customs (coming soon). Anything you want to contribute will be greatly appreciated. If you want to donate and request a reserve we can accommodate that request.

When you buy our items or make donations you’re entered into the monthly raffle to win a $225 pen credit towards any pen you want from inventory or to have custom made. Nib grinds are free. US shipping is free, but we have to start charging for international shipping now.

You can also enter the pen drawing for free by sending in a postcard or note in the mail to us at

Something people have asked me about for a while, and that I’ve been wanting to get going for a while, is finally becoming reality. We’re starting an endowment that will sustain Newton Pens Scholarships indefinitely, or as far into the future as we can.

What we’ve done every year is raise money and given it all away, and so far we’ve given away $26,000. Those 26 students who have benefited from our scholarships have you to thank. What I want to do, in conjunction with what we’ve been doing, is to have an endowment that earns interest that we can give scholarships from. If we have a slow year fundraising, at least we’ll still have money earned from interest to be able to give away.

To start the endowment we need $10,000. We can start it with $1,000, but the fees are 2% and it doesn’t earn interest until it hits 10. So we’re going to leave money raised in the bank until we have enough to get started earning interest. We already have $2,000 to set aside for this and I’ve been told to expect another $1,000 to go into this endowment fund. For every $25,000 we have in the endowment we can give away 1 $1,000 scholarship.

To help the endowment along, we’re going to move 25% of our monthly income from postcard and notebook sales, and general contributions, into this new endowment fund. That way we can reach $10,000 a little quicker, and to continue building it up month by month, so that after a few years we’ll have more to give each year.

We’ll be working with Arkansas Community Foundation to build this endowment. This will be a Legacy endowment that requires $10,000 minimum to start earning interest. The fee is 1% annually, and we get 4% spendable each year.

We’ll be labelled an organizational endowment rather than scholarship so that we have more freedom to send money to colleges all over the country, rather than just one that we’ve selected. ACF is 40 years old and has $285 million in assets, and has given more than $156 million in grants in that time.

We’re able to accept stock, real estate, or timber as gifts as well. Not sure how that will work but they’ll help us figure it out.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or want to help out, let me know.
Shawn@newtonpens.com

Hello everybody! In May we raised $329 thanks to everybody who bought post cards or notebooks and gave donations. If I’ve done my maths right that means we already have $3139 for the 2018 year! Whew! Thanks!

A special thanks to Chris Geeo of Moonstar Woodworking here in Hot Springs! He turned a bowl and auctioned it off, with half the proceeds going to our scholarships. $90. Thanks Chris!

Ever wonder what the monthly winners have made for their pens? Here’s the latest example.

I’ve been given another small box of pens to put up for auction. All the money raised will go towards the scholarship fund. Thank you so much for your donations and continued support of the scholarships. You’re helping give these students a foot in the door and a helping hand that they will remember for rest of their lives.

We raised way over $6,000 this year! From June 2016 to May 2017 we raised $6,853!! Thank you all so much! For the month of May alone we raised about $592.

Thanks to everybody who volunteered to read essays, we appreciate your time so much. I can’t wait for next year.

This year we gave out 2 scholarships for $2,000 each, and 4 for $500 each. We have students from all over the country going to college at Lake Superior State U, Cal Poly SLO, two to University of Central Arkansas, one to University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and I’m still waiting to hear back from one of the recipients. Congrats to you all!

Now that means the pen give away. Every month as a way of saying thank you to everybody who’s contributed to the scholarship fund through purchases or donations, I give away a custom pen up to $235. The winner this month, from all 61 contributors, is #34, Shane L, who bought 3 notebooks at the Chicago pen show! Congrats Shane! I’ll send you an email in a minute.

If you want a chance to win a pen and to help some kids out with their college expenses, all you have to do is buy some of our cool merchandise, with every penny going to the fund, or just donate. If you want a chance at winning a pen without contributing to the fund, and helping the kids out, then you can enter for free by sending me a note. Read the directions on how to enter here.

Hi everybody, I had a great time at the pen show and wanted to share some photos. First thing, I got to see the Diamond Building from Adventures in Babysitting, which made me remember that movie, and since have watched it with my kids. What a great movie.

We sold 38 notebooks and received a few donations for the scholarship fund. Thanks everybody! We’re way above the $6,000 that we’ve raised the last couple of years. We’re about to make announcements for who gets scholarships this year, too.

The show was amazing – sold a bunch of pens and met lots of great people. Will definitely be back next year.

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Here’s a quick run through of the show, starting in the front room at the entrance. There’s quite a bit more than is shown on this short video…

A post shared by Newton Pens (@newtonpens) on May 6, 2017 at 4:10pm PDT

I bought a 1920s Wahl desk set from one of the vendors. He left before Sunday so I missed it at the show, and I definitely was kicking myself over that one. I went around and found a really nice little beater pen with a great nib on it for cheap, and a cool Parker base from the inimitable Stephen Mandell, to sort of make up for it. But I was able to get in touch with the guy who had the Wahl pen and he mailed it to me. The base isn’t a Wahl piece, but it’s still pretty cool. And the pen is fantastic.

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Anywho- driving in and out of Chicago is nuts, but I’m glad we made it in. I’m also really glad we don’t live there. 🙂

A post shared by Newton Pens (@newtonpens) on May 5, 2017 at 6:05pm PDT

The drive saw flooding and roadblocks – but thankfully easy coming and going. Lots of fun to see the country on the road. We had to take some crazy way off the beaten path roads to get home. A levy had breached and most of the highways were 3 feet under water. Lunch on the way home? ‘El Indio Mexican Restaurant‘. It was easily the best food we had all weekend.

Best food we had on the entire trip.

And I can’t forget to mention my new pen! I’m calling this one the Quapaw, after the beautiful Quapaw Bathhouse downtown, on Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs. The Quapaw is a faceted, 8 sided pen, that tapers down towards the ends. This one takes more time than the other sculpted pens, and the price reflects that, with this one starting at $475. You can see more photos here.

From now on when I post a new pen to one of the galleries, at the very bottom of the page, under the photos, there will be a short form making it easy to order a pen like that one. Just fill in your name and email, with your nib preference and any changes (like diameter or length) and click submit.

Another month of fundraising is under our belts and we’re doing the best we’ve done so far. After regular postcard and notebook sales and the scholarship pen auction we raised $254 for the month, putting us at $6148 for the year! Thanks so much everybody! We couldn’t do this without your continued support.

To say thank you for all your donations, every month I give away a $225 credit towards any custom pen you want. To pick a recipient I pick a number using random.org , and from 22 entries this month that number is William F. Congrats William! I’ll send you an email so you can start thinking about what you want.

If you want to help support high school students going to college and possibly win a custom pen then all you have to do is purchase some postcards, a notebook, simply donate, or send a note for a free entry. Rules are here- https://newtonpens.com/rules-for-entry-to-scholarship-raffle/

We’re getting closer to having scholarship prizes ready for this year’s group of scholarship applicants. We received 24 applications this year and had to narrow that down to 11. Completed applications and essays that meet the minimum requirement are necessary if you want to be considered. I hated disqualifying so many applications, but I’m excited to find out who will be receiving money this year.

If you have any questions please send me a note – shawn@newtonpens.com

I’ll be at the Chicago show this weekend! Woo hoo! I’m still working on finishing a batch of pens to take with me.

Today I went to Vanness to make a quick video talking about everything that’s gone on, going on, and will be happening. I also got to see the new Retro 51 Bioworkz Vanness collaboration rollerball. It’s so sweet!